Xingu Seeds Network: Harvesting Native Forest Seeds

Deforestation and degradation of land threaten the future of Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Between 2000 and 2015, the Amazon Biome lost more than 20 million hectares of forest, and the Cerrado more than 23 million. Despite this trend, Brazil’s Forest Code and Nationally Determined Contributions require the country to restore 8 to 12 million hectares of forest by 2030. The need for large-scale reforestation across the country has led to increasing demand for native tree seeds to restore these ecosystems back to their natural state.

The Xingu Seeds Network (ARSX) is a network of around 600 native seed collectors located in the Xingu basin headwater, which stretches across the Brazilian Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado biomes. The network originated as a campaign to recover and protect river springs and stop deforestation back in 2004. It was initiated by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) – an NGO – in partnership with indigenous leaders from the Xingu Park. The park is home to the oldest indigenous territory of Brazil and covers around 2.6 million hectares with 16 different tribes. To date, seeds from more than 220 native forest trees have been made available.

All requests for native forest seeds are received by ARSX’s central administration, which separates and distributes them to groups of collectors, according to their availability and capacity. The network trains collectors on best practice for collecting and pre-processing, safety, pre-processing techniques and species identification. The amount collectors are paid by ARSX depends on (1) the species, (2) the difficulty of collecting, (3) the difficulty of pre-processing, (4) technological innovation in collecting and pre-processing and, (5) the demand for each species. The collected seeds are then processed and sold by the network.

Alongside seed collection and sales, ARSX promotes an innovative reforestation technique called ‘muvuca’ where a mixture of seeds from several species is planted directly in the forest. This technique provides a cheaper, more efficient, and higher impact result than the alternative of cultivating and planting seedlings. While this project focused on strengthening the ASRX’s business model, a related demand-side level project funded by P4F has been accelerating the use of the muvuca technique among private sector stakeholders, farmers, government bodies and universities.

Economic and social value: Currently, seed collectors are divided into three groups: indigenous, rural settlers and peri-urban. Given the needs and ability of each respective group, seed collection has traditionally supplemented other livelihood activities. For example, indigenous seed collectors supplement roughly 15% of their income with seed collection. Rural settlers and peri-urban collectors tend to rely more on seed collection due to the lack of opportunities in the formal job market, with seed collection typically making up 30% to 100% of their annual income.

ARSX has grown significantly since its inception, and now reaches more than 600 collectors.

Environmental value: Seed collection protects biodiversity, increases the rate of reforestation, and raises the economic value of standing forest for actors who may have made an income exploiting forest areas. Since its inception, ARSX has collected around 294 tonnes of seeds from more than 220 native species, and has supported the recovery of around 7,400 hectares of degraded forest along the Xingu and Araguaia Basin and in other regions in the Amazon and Cerrado.

The programme supported the development of a business plan and a roadmap to transform ARSX from a non-profit entity into a profitable business with the capacity to meet growing demand in the restoration market. There were two phases of P4F’s contribution:

• Phase 1: Supporting the development of a business plan that includes identifying levers to improve ARSX operations (e.g. cost reduction, revenue improvement and investment);

• Phase 2:  Implementing initiatives based on recommendations from phase one including levers defined in the business plan.

For the second phase, four out of nine levers identified in the business plan were implemented. The P4F project focused on improving the firm’s sales and marketing strategy, streamlining network operations, strengthening the capacity of the team, redesigning the governance structure, and creating cost controls.